Combination tenement and storage building



Jan. 19, 1932. E. GEIGER 1,841,530 I COMBINATION TENEMENT AND STORAGEBUILDING Filed March ,21, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l l Erms'f Geq'y BYJJ'yM/fi 72.

4? ATTO NEY Jan. 19, 1932. GE|GER COMBINATION TENEMENT AND STORAGEBUILDING Filed March 21, 1928,

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR' Email, Gaye). BY

TTORNEY Jan. 19, 1932. E. GEIGER 1,341,530

COMBINATION TENEMENT AND STORAGE BUILDING Filed March 21, 1929 5Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTQR Ernst, Ge iyer BY ATTOR EY Patented Jan. 19,1932 STATES NHTE' ERNST GEIGER, OF IRVING-TON, NEW JERSEY COMBINATIONTENEMENT' AND STORAGE BUILDING v Application filed March 21, 1929.Serial No. 248,703.

The present invention relates to improvements in combination storageandtenement buildings. To properly understand the scope of the'invention the word tenement must be considered in its broadest aspect aspertaining not only to apartments and dwelling houses in general buthotels, stores, schools, oitlce buildings, theatres and other structureswhich may be tenanted either permanently or at stated intervals duringthe day. The word storage is similarly used here to cover not onlystorage or warehouse space but parking space for automobiles. 7

Thus the invention may be embodied in a combined department store andwarehouse, combined hotel and parking garage, etc.

The invention is peculiarly adapted for embodiment in a combinationgarage and office building, the officeand garage portions being sointerrelated that no valuable ofice floor space is lost and all of theoffices are assured adequate light and air. By c0mbining the garage withan'office building structure I actually enhance the value of the latter,since little or no decrease in oflice rentals or available ofiice spaceis entailed and ad- I so ditional revenues are derived from the ga- Theinvention considered from another standpoint is concernedwith carparking garages of the skyscraper type per se. It represents animprovement on the garage disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,636,600,dated July 19th, 1927,.in thatit avoids the use of dead storage spaceand insures the parking ofevery car in a movable storage cabin which maybe quickly shifted to car receiving or car delivery position. 3

The present garage follows the patent in that endless trains oforbitally movable storage cabins are used. The advantageous land-' ingand loading arrangement which permits cars to always move forward,whether entering or leaving the cabin or the building is also utilized,but the economically wasteful central dead storage space has beeneliminated and. the car handling facilities consequently speeded up.

In accordance'with the preferred embodiment of the invention, the entireparking equipment, consisting of one or more of the endless parkingcabin trains are "suspended in a well which is separated by fireproofwalls from the remainder of the office building. This well occupies aspace which would ordinarily be taken up by. a courtyard or a darkairshaft, or which would be otherwise unsuitable for office purposes. Atunnel intersecting the lower enlarged portion of the well is encircledby the trains of storage cabins and is divided into the superimposed carreceiving and delivery floors whichc-ommunicate with the street and fromwhich the cabin trains are loaded. This car handling arrangement permitscars to be always driven ahead into and outof the cabins and both thewell and the entrance tunnel are so completely segregated from the restof the office building that the danger of fire spreading, from thegarage to the office structure or vice versa is entirely eliminated. I

With the above noted and other objects in View, the invention consistsin certain novel features of construction and combi nations andarrangements of parts which will be more fully hereinafter described andpointed out in the claims.

The invention-may be more fully understood from the followingdescription in con nection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: I

Fig. l is a diagrammatic broken transverse vertical sectional viewthrough a combination. garage and oflice building embodying theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view taken approximately at street levelonthe line 2 2 ofFig.1.-

Fig. 3 is a typicaldiagrammatic sectional plan view taken through theupper floors of: the building approximately on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1,and V 7 e V ,f

Fig. 4; is av view similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating a slightmodification.

The building includes a front wall 10, side walls. 11 and rear wall 12,,and at the rear I central portion is provided with an enclosed space orwell 13 in which the car parking equipment is accommodated. Thelowerportion of this well is laterally: enlarged as at 13a.

for a purpose which will be more fully hereinafter described.

Extending from front to rear of the building and passing centrallythrough the enlarged portion of the well adjacent the street level is atunnel 14 horizontally subdivided into superimposed car delivery andreceiving floors 15, 16 and a subjacent car parking floor 17 havingwashing or repair pits 13 over which the cars may be driven.

As best seen in Fig. 2, the delivery and receiving floors communicate byram s 19 and 20, with a common driveway 21 entering the front of thebuilding at the center there of.

The ground floor space of the building laterally beyond the well 13 maybe subdivided into stores 22, these stores having show windows 23fronting on the street and provided with entrances 24. As best seen inFig. 2, the space between the left hand store 22 and the tunnel 14forwardly of the well 13 provides a waiting room 25 for motorists, thiswaiting room having a door 26 on the street and if desired communicatingthrough a door 27 with the adjacent store.

The corresponding space at the opposite side of the driveway 21 issubdivided to provide a foyer 28 for the office building communicatingthrough a vestibule 29 with the street. Passenger elevators 30 whichserve the upper floors of the oiiice building are entered from the foyer28, the elevator shaftways 31 being disposed forwardly of the well 13.

The upper floors of the building, all of which are designated at 32, maybe conveniently subdivided into office space, a typical plan of one ofthe office floors being shown in Fig. 3 wherein it will be noted thatthe hallway 33 which communicates with the elevator shafts 31 occupiesthe central. portion where the light is cut off by the well 13, and allof the oliices 34 which are entered from the hallway 13 include one ormore walls at the exterior of the building, providing adequate light andair for the offiees. In other words, the well 13 only occupies spacewhich would otherwise be utilized for a blind airshaft or court and itsprovision in the building detracts but little from the available ofiicespace and leaves only outside offices which are light and air The garageequipment, which is mounted entirely within the well is quite similar tothat disclosed in my prior application, Serial No. 319 510. filedNovember 15th, 1923, and may conveniently include a series of car parking cabins 36 hung between and carried by endless conveyor elementswhich travel in guideways 37 and over actuating drums or sprockets 39,in the top of the well. Each cabin preferably has a four-point guidingarrangement including guiding means at 40 which enter the guides 37 andengage the endless flexible devices and guide means 38 which travel in asecondary endless guideway designated generally at 41.

The guideways 37 and 41 overlie each other for the greater portion oftheir length. That is to say, the vertical runs of these guidewa-ys inthe upper portion of the well overlie each other, and their verticalportions at opposite sides of the tunnel overlie each other. In passingfrom one vertical portion to the next the guideways are flared apart at37a, 41a to maintain the cabins on an even keel. For a similar reasonthe guides separate in passing through the lower crossway 42 beneath thetunnel 14 and in passing through the upper crossway 43 at the top of thewell.

Preferably a plurality of similar endless cabin train units areprovided, the well being subdivided by vertical partition walls such as44 (Fig. 2) if desired, so that each cabin train is segregated from theothers.

if desired the two vertical runs of a single cabin train may also besubdivided from each other above the tunnel 14 by a central partitionframework 45, preferably carrying at spaced intervals platforms 46accessible from a stairway 47. These fore and aft extending platformspermit the convenient inspection of all the various storage cabins asthey travel through their orbits. The top of framework may mount thedriving mechanism 50 for the sprockets 39.

l/Vhen a car enters the garage it drives down the ramp 19 past thecentral control and toll station 48 on to the receiving floor 15 and isswung to the left and driven into a waiting storage cabin 36.

WVhen the car is called for, the cabin containing it is shifted intoalinement with the delivery floor 16, the car is driven out on to thedelivery floor and down the ramp 20 to exit. My pending application,Serial No. 329,386 shows one form of automatic electrical controlmechanism for shifting any desired cabin into registry with either thereceiving or delivery floor.

From the foregoing description it will be noted that I have retained theadvantageous loading and unloading arrangement of my prior patent inthat cars are always driven ahead into and out of the storage cabins. Ihave at the same time completely obviated the use of any central deadstorage space which has proven economically wasteful and have devised agarage and ofiice building combination with very immaterial loss ofoflice space and no loss of desirable outside office space.

It will of course be obvious that in adapting the present invention tovarious sizes and styles of Oi'HCB buildings and to the variouslocations and sizes of plots on which the building may be erected it mayfrequently prove desirable to shift the position of the well relativelyto the position of the oflice floors. If, for instance, the building hada complete blind side the well would naturally be disposed on this sideand in such event the endless cabin trainsinstead of including a pair ofvertical runs symmetrically bellied out to form a loop or bight mightconsist of one vertical run extending its full height and all of theflaring necessary to accommodate the tunnel could be properly effectedby guiding the other run of the train.

Such an arrangement has been shown in Fig. 4, and since all essentialparts of the apparatus are substantially similar to those describedabove, similar characters of refereuce have been employed.

The garage and oflice building combination is notable in one respect,for the completeness with which ofiice structure and garage structureare segregated from each other for fire prevention and noise preventionpurposes. The car parking equipment is essentially quiet in operation,but if the walls of the tunnel and well are of fireproof and soundproofconstruction the noise of starting motors will be inaudible to thetenants of the G568 portion of the building and the undesirable aroma ofexhaust gases, oil and gasoline cannot permeate the oihces.

In conclusion it may be stated, that the ofiice building and garagecombination is merely one of many tenement and storage buildingcombinations embodying the invention, as explained at the outset of thespecification, and that the showing of both building and equipment arehighly diagrammatic throughout, inv order to avoid needless illustrationof details which have been fully disclosed in my prior applications.

It will thus be seen that there is herein described a device in whichthe several features of this invention are embodied, and which device inits action attains the various objects of the invention and is wellsuited to meet the requirements of practical use.

As many changes'could be made in the,

above construction, and many apparently widely diiierent embodimentsofthis invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof.it is intended that all matter contained in the above description orshown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

imiat I claim is Y I 1. A combination oliice and garage structureincluding a building horizontally subdivided into oiii'ce floors, andhaving a relatively deep well therein intersecting the otlice floorsandextending well below street level, a horizontal entrance and exittunnel for automobiles disposedapproximately at street level extendingthrough the building and into the well, and vertically movable carparking e moment the osed in the well receiving cars l i p a c,

c from and dehvermgcars to the tunnel, said parking equipment includingan endless train of car parking conveyor elements supported within thewell and encircling the tunnel, the lower, portion of the well beinglaterally enlarged in'the region of thetunnel and the endless t-ain ofconveyors including juxtaposed parallelvertical runs above the tunnel. ci

f 2. A combination office and garagestructure including a buildinghorizontally subdivided into ofiice floors, and having a relatively deepwell therein intersecting the ofiice floors, a horizontal entrance andexit tunnel for automobiles disposed approximately at street levelextending through the building and into the well, vertically movable carparking equipment disposed in the well, receiving cars from anddelivering cars to the tunnel, said parking equipment including anendless train of car parking conveyor elements support-ed within thewell and encircling th. tunnel, the lower portion of the well beinglaterally enlarged in the region of the tunnel, the endless train ofconveyors including closely adjacent vertical runs above the tunnel, anda partition framework supported on the tunnel extending upwardly intojthewell and dividing said runs; 3. A combination ofiice and'garagestructure including a building horizontally subdivi-ded into. oiiicefloors, and having a well therein intersecting the olllce floors, ahorizontal entrance and exit tunnel "for automobiles extending into thewell, vertically movable car parking equipment disposed in the Well,receiving cars from'and delivering cars to the inner end of the tunnel,said parking equipment. including an endless train of car parkingconveyor elements supported within the well and encircling the tunnel,the lower portion of the well being laterally enlarged to accommodatethe tunnel within the orbit structure including a building horizontallysubdivided into tenement floors, and having a relatively deep welltherein intersecting the floors and having no communication there-vwith, a horizontal entrance and exit tunnel for automobiles extendingthrough the building and into the well, and vertically movable 7 carparking equipment disposed in the well, said parking. equipmentincluding an end-' less ofcar parking conveyor elements supported withinthe well encircling the tunnel and an arrangement to receive carstherefrom, the lower portion of the well being laterally enlarged in theregion of the tunnel and the endless train of conveyors includingclosely adjacent vertical runs above the tunnel, a partition frameworksupported on the tunnel extending upwardly into the well and dividingsaid runs, the partition frame including horizontally disposedinspection platforms arranged at different levels.

5. A combined garage and ofiice structure including a building having avertical Well therein enlarged adjacent its lower end, a horizontaltunnel entering the enlarged lower end 01" the well and communicatingwith the exterior of the building, the tunnel being horizontallysubdivided into superimposed car delivery and receiving floors, and anendless -5 train of car parking conveyor elements movable verticallywithin the well encircling the tunnel and registrable for loading andunloading purposes with opposite sides of the car receiving and deliveryfloors.

6. In a storage structure an endless train of movable storage devices,means for supporting and actuating the train, a cargohandling station,the train including a pair of closely uxtaposed parallel oppositelymoving runs, said runs being flared apart at one point to encircle thecargo-handling station.

7. In a garage an endless train of car parkin g devices, means formounting and actuating the train, a car receiving and car delivery 30station, the train including a pair of oppositely moving generallyparallel runs normally closely juxtaposed and including portions spreadapart to encircle the car receiving and delivery station.

5 Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New Yorkthis 19th day of March, A. 1)., 1929.

ERNST GEIGER.

